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I don't see how this is aimed at the 6600
If it is an 8/4 pipeline card at 700mhz, then theoretically it should be able to do:
5600 MP/s (pixels)
2800 MV/s (vertices)
11.2 GB/s (memory bandwidth)
Compare this to the mainstream geforce lineup:
6600:
2400 MP/s, 900 MV/s, 8.8 GB/s
6600GT:
4000 MP/s, 1500 MV/s, 16 GB/s
6800:
3900 MP/s, 1625 MV/s, 22.4 GB/s
It seems that if it wasn't for the crappy 128bit memory this card would compete with the 6800, and it will definately beat the 6600 and probably the 6600GT, at least in situations with lower AA.
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I would guess it will be slightly better than the 6600 but you have to take into account that not all pixel/vertex pipelines have the same efficiency, which is why ATI can still compete with the 7800GTX with 33% less pipelines. Another important thing is the driver. Nvidia's and ATI's driver are tweaked for performance while S3 is still dealing with compatibility problems, which it has to resolve before the mainstream market accepts it as a viable competitor to the other two.

A little nitpick about the article: I was under the impression that the S27 supported single to quad-channel DDR1/2/3, meaning the lowest memory interface width supported would be 64-bits, whith the maximum being 256-bits. Reply

From the info shared with us, S3 explictly mentioned that 32bit designs were possible, and while they didn't discuss anything about their memory crossbar, it seems more likely it's a 32bit/channel design given that the S20 is not meant to compete with higher-end cards where 256bit memory is required and customers are willing to pay for. Reply

Are you sure? They all appear to be over the surface-mount thingies and nowhere else (could be some local heating effect from the thing being punched on). Unless of course someone has a thing about touching SMT components. Reply

So, they want this to be right around the 6600 pricepoint it seems. Did I read correctly on it having 8 Pixel Pipes and 4 Vertex? And if it really does hit 700mhz core and DDR2 on a 128Bit memory bus, it could very well give a 6600 a run for its money. But, no PS3 will hamper it for future the somewhat.

"Company officials said that S3 felt that it was not worth the transistor-expense to integrate Shader Model 3.0, given the amount of currently available applications that support the technology. Instead of supporting 3.0, S3 said it will integrate Shader Model 4.0 in 2006." Reply

Yes, you read that correctly. How competitive it will actually be remains to be seen however - this is certainly S3's best chance in some time now that it's an 8/4 core(as opposed to the 4/4 of GammaChrome), but drivers will play a big role, and pipelines aren't everything(ex: X1800XT vs. 7800GTX). Reply